Crimes

Type of Villain

Vengeful Supervillain

“

I'll give them heroics. I'll give them the most spectacular heroics that anyone has even seen! And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions, so that everyone can be superheroes, everyone can be super! And when everyone's super... (chuckles evilly)... no one will be.

„

~ Syndrome explaining his true goal to eradicate the supers.

Syndrome (real name: Buddy Pine) is the main antagonist of Pixar's 6th full-length animated feature film The Incredibles. He was the biggest fan of his former idol Mr. Incredible, until the latter denied him to be his sidekick when he was young. Buddy took this denial to heart and since then, devoted himself to becoming a supervillain and mad scientist.

He was voiced by Jason Lee of My Name Is Earl fame, who also played Azreal in Dogma.

Contents

The Incredibles

Beginnings

Buddy Pine, a superhero fanatic & inventor, sneaks into a youthful Mr. Incredible's car, willing to be his self-appointed sidekick IncrediBoy. He informs Mr. Incredible that he doesn't have to worry about training him since he knows everything about him, being his number one fan. However, rather than allowing IncrediBoy to accompany him, Mr. Incredible ejects Buddy from his car, saying that he works alone and speeds off, with Buddy calling out from the road and telling him to wait.

Later on that night, right when Mr. Incredible saves pedestrian Oliver Sansweet from near-suicide convoluted into a bank robbery hostage to stop Bomb Voyage, Buddy showed up again as IncrediBoy and told Mr. Incredible that he made new rocket boots and that he finally figured out who he is: His ward IncrediBoy (Similar to a Batman/Robin tone). But when Mr. Incredible tells him that he's now officially carried it too far, Buddy thinks it's because he doesn't have powers and says that not every superhero has powers and they can be super without them (Similar to Batman).

After asking Mr. Incredible if he can fly since he can with his rocket boots, he responded (while holding up Bomb Voyage, who tried to escape during his and Buddy's conversation), "Fly home, Buddy. I work alone." Buddy tells Mr. Incredible to just give him one chance and that he will show him by getting the police; but as he was leaving, Bomb Voyage throws a bomb on the end of his cape (which Buddy was unaware), so Mr. Incredible was forced to let Bomb Voyage escape to save Buddy and dispose of the bomb. Unfortunately, the rescue ended up opening the floodgate of other lawsuits against supers (because of the two lawsuits that Mr. Incredible faced and lost) and thus, it abolished supers altogether.

Now sick and tired of Buddy, Mr. Incredible handed him over to the police in the back of their police car, telling them to send him back home and tell his mom what he's been doing so she can have a talk with him. When Mr. Incredible told the officers that Bomb Voyage escaped, he also added that "Skippy" made sure of that, only for Buddy to correct him, but Mr. Incredible responded that he's not affiliated with him.

Becoming a Supervillain

After Buddy was sent home and probably even scolded and sent to his room by his mom (which was shown in a flashback with a grown-up Buddy {as Syndrome} telling it to an older Mr. Incredible), he believed that he could not trust anyone, and that he realised that his lifelong dreams had been crushed, which gradually drove him to a hatred for Mr. Incredible and the other supers for not giving him the opportunity to become a superhero, and then it finally drove him to revenge, losing his sanity.

Formulating a Plot for Glory

15 years later now 25-years-old and operating through his agent Mirage, Buddy, now known by his new super-villain name Syndrome, contacted several retired superheroes, tasking them with the destruction of various prototypes of the enormous Omnidroid battle robots, which was secretly a plan to test the robots against old supers. If the super dies, they failed. If they can survive and disable the robot, then the data is used to make a bigger robot that is designed to kill that particular super. No super ever survived the second fight, if they even survived the first fight. This led to the Omnidroids becoming more difficult to defeat every time, with the eventual goal to make the Omnidroid good enough to defeat Mr. Incredible. He also got extremely rich from building loads of weapons and presumably selling it to evil terrorist organizations. But no matter how rich he became, he never forgot about Mr. Incredible and finally started to get his revenge. Deciding that his Omnidroid was now good enough to fight Mr. Incredible, Syndrome had Mirage recruit his old idol, who was able to defeat the Omnidroid.

After repairing and improving the machine, Syndrome sent it to fight Mr. Incredible. When the hero was outmatched rather quickly, Syndrome revealed himself (also saying that all he wanted was to help Mr. Incredible, but what made him snap was when he told him to fly home and that he works alone) and he declared that he would be Mr. Incredible's new nemesis. Mr. Incredible admitted that he was wrong to treat Syndrome that way and apologized for it. Syndrome assumed that since he now had power over him he was bluffing, and he goes on a monologue with Mr. Incredible. After Mr. Incredible takes advantage of the moment to throw a log at Syndrome (who dodges it), Syndrome immobilizes Mr. Incredible with his zero-point energy ray, which is shot from the pointer finger of Syndrome's glove. Syndrome's zero-point energy ray causes a person (or superhero, in this case) hit by the ray to immediately become immobilized, lose all velocity, and levitate off of the ground, making them unable to speak or move. If their skin is exposed, then their facial movements are reduced to only being able to move their eyeballs, giving Syndrome complete control of their motion in all three dimensions. After using the ray to throw Mr. Incredible around several times to show his power over the superhero, Syndrome accidentally uses his zero-point energy ray to throw Mr. Incredible over a waterfall, much to Syndrome's irritation. Not wanting to take any chances, he then tried to finish him off with an explosive device to ensure his demise.

A scared Mr. Incredible sees the explosion in the water, but Syndrome sends his life-detector to see if Mr. Incredible survived the explosion. Mr. Incredible used Gazerbeam's skeletal remains (who had been presumably killed by Syndrome for knowing too much about his schemes) to make Syndrome think that he was killed by the bomb, which works.

Unfortunately, Syndrome was able to capture Mr. Incredible when he tried to infiltrate his base later on (during which Mr. Incredible discovered Syndrome's computer and found out that Syndrome had killed former superheroes before him with his Omnidroids, and had tracked down other retired superheroes as well), also realizing that he used Gazerbeam's remains to trick the probe into thinking that he was dead to being with. He admitted that he was right to idolize Mr. Incredible despite his grudge against him, though he is disappointed that he decided to call for help and that it was lame.

Due to the fact that Elastigirl had activated the tracking device on his supersuit in an attempt to find where Mr. Incredible was, Syndrome and Mirage believed that he had made contact for reinforcements and began to interrogate him. Despite Mr. Incredible's intents that he never knew about the homing device and that he wasn't contacting anyone, he inadvertently recognize Elastigirl's voice on the transmission line as she's flying a government plane to the island, making Syndrome believe that he had in fact been lying to him. With this knowledge, Syndrome decide to send a little "greeting" by having missiles to take down Elastigirl's plane.

Mr. Incredible attempts to reason with Syndrome by telling him to call off the missiles and that he'll do anything Syndrome wants, but Sydrome refuses, saying that it's "15 years too late". The shock became intensified when Elastgirl announced that there are children on-board (as they stowed away to follow her), much to Mr. Incredible's shock, as well as Mirage's, as she starts to question Syndrome's ways. As the last missile finally destroys the plan, Syndrome took great pleasure in killing the occupants (not knowing that they actually evaded the crash alive and are now using the powers to swim to the island), recalling how Mr. Incredible had told him that he worked alone after he offered to be his sidekick. Mr. Incredible then retaliated by threatening to kill Mirage by crushing her; but Syndrome refused to release him and goads him to crush Mirage.

Mr. Incredible decided to let her go, realizing that that wouldn't make things better and Syndrome teased that he knew Mr. Incredible couldn't do it, even when he's got nothing to lose because he says that Mr. Incredible's weak and that he's outgrown him. Mirage (feeling sorry for Mr. Incredible and the loss of his family) gets mad at Syndrome for disregarding life instead of valuing Syndrome attempts to appease Mirage that he just called Mr. Incredible's bluff and that he knew that he wasn't planning to hurt her, but a disgusted Mirage tells her former boss, "Next time you gamble... bet your own life!" and quits.

Mirage later learns that Mr. Incredible's family survived the crash and are on the island. She then frees Mr. Incredible from captivity, informs him of his family's survival, and helps him escape and reunite with his family. However, Syndrome (being unaware of Mirage's recent actions) was able to recapture Mr. Incredible along with his family by immobilizing them with his zero-point energy rays, and finally deduces that Mr. Incredible had married Elastigirl and had two children with her.

Believing that he had hit the jackpot by capturing an entire family of superheroes, Syndrome imprisons the Incredibles in one of his multi-prisoner containment units. He takes the opportunity to brag about how he had beaten them, even without having any superpowers for himself. As such, Syndrome reveals his true plan to the Incredibles: he intends to set the Omnidroid on Metroville to go on a rampage, and then stop it himself, therefore taking the credit and setting himself up as the city's new hero for years until he retires. Syndrome also announces that after his retirement, he will sell his inventions to the world so that others could be super, thus destroying the concept of supers.

Believing that he finally got the best of the Incredibles, Syndrome heads off to Metroville to finalize his plan, putting up a show 'fighting' against the Omnidroid-stopping it from nearly killing a woman and her baby. However, Syndrome realized too late that the Omnidroid's ability to learn allowed it to identify Syndrome as a threat, disabling his remote control wristband and sending him flying into a building out of control (which scared him real bad), knocking him out cold.

He then tries to get back up, only to fall back down. He remained unconscious during the Incredibles' escape and return back to Metroville, where they teamed up with a fellow superhero Frozone to destroy the Omnidroid by taking out its brainpan, causing it to shut down and explode. As soon as Syndrome regains consciousness, he is angered to see that the Incredibles have foiled his plan, and is robbed of his victory.

Death

With Syndrome's plot now exposed to the public, his assets are frozen by the government and a warrant is put out for his arrest. Angry to see what was happening to him, Syndrome made one final attempt at revenge by breaking into the Incredibles' house and abducting Jack-Jack, persuading his current babysitter that he was a replacement, telling her that the S on his shirt stood for Sitter and that he could not run around with a "BS" on his shirt in public. When the Incredibles arrived to rescue Jack Jack, Syndrome zapped them with his zero-point energy ray with his finger and reassured them that he'll be a good mentor to Jack-Jack, and probably even turn him into a sidekick in time. He then threw the Incredibles out of the home and crashed through the ceiling and up to his jet plane while holding a crying Jack-Jack.

But unfortunately for Syndrome, this plan also failed when Jack-Jack's transforming superpower manifested and allowed him to beat Syndrome up. Elastigirl was then thrown into the air by Mr. Incredible to rescue her baby (who fell out of Syndrome's arms when he hit the wing of his plane) and then she used her body as a parachute to glide back down to safety. Finally realizing that he lost, Syndrome leaned from the side door of his jet plane, vowing revenge on the Incredible family and that he will get Jack-Jack one day before proceeding to cackle evilly.

Not wanting to let Syndrome get away, Mr. Incredible started looking around for something to throw at Syndrome, spotting the car that he had bought with the money he had given him earlier. Mr. Incredible threw the car at him, knocking Syndrome off-balance inches away from the plane's air turbine. Syndrome attempted to escape, but was killed when his cape snagged him in the turbine, echoing an earlier scene in the movie regarding the dangers of wearing a cape by Edna, causing the aircraft to explode.

Other Media

LEGO The Incredibles

Sydrome returns in the LEGO The Incredibles video game as an antagonist. While his role in the games story mode is similar to the film in which it is based from, his fate has been noticeably changed. When the Parr family returned home after destroying the Omnidroid, they find the houses interior covered in scorch marks before Syndrome stumbles into view admitting defeat and tells the family he will go into hiding. He also mentioned that they should tip their baby-sitter more, implying that Jack-Jack had already gotten the better of him.

Syndrome later reappears as a boss during the final crime wave in Metroville. He has his goons steal various technology to build a new Omnidroid so he can take over the city. He is eventually found in a abandoned warehouse were the boss fight takes place and is sent to prison after his defeat. Syndrome also becomes a playable character after stopping all crime waves in Metroville.

Personality

Syndrome's personality (namely his callous disregard of others and lack of conscience or morality) all stem back to psychopathy. He is a mad scientist destined to make himself a hero even if it meant creating a destructive and killer robot to murder various retired ones. Due to Mr. Incredible making him believe that he could count on nobody except for himself, he has no value of human life which was shown when he let loose the Omnidroid on a populated area to pretend to be a superhero, allowed missiles to fire on Helen, Dash and Violet's plane even after discovering the two were children and was willing to risk Mirage's safety to call Mr. Incredible's bluff, alhough he decided not to kill Jack-Jack's babysitter and instead deceive her into giving her custody of Jack-Jack, (though this may in part have to due to the fact that she was easily persuaded due to her being incapable of handling Jack-Jack's superhuman powers).

Syndrome was a scientific, technological, technical and mechanical genius, and possessed the intelligence and resourcefulness sufficient to create an incredible variety of weaponry and equipment. He was also capable of creating a sentient, self-aware, incredibly powerful and intelligent being that ultimately defeated him.

Aside from his derangement Syndrome is cynical, he thinks that the only way to get respect was to become a threat. He is sadistic as well, as shown when after realizing that Bob knew Helen from the transmission he instantly set missiles on their plane and then mocked them on their apparent deaths after recalling how Bob had told him that he worked alone.

Like many sociopaths, Syndrome holds a firm belief that mercy is a weakness and disregarding life is strength which was pointed out by Mirage. Syndrome himself is a very calm, levelheaded and laid-back young man, rarely if ever expressing his temper. When Mister Incredible had just destroyed his ninth Omnidroid instead of initial anger, simply compliments the feat by saying it was "impressive." This also shows when Bob had taken Mirage hostage and Syndrome shows no concern when he threatens to crush her after he realizes that Bob was too noble to do such a thing.

Syndrome is an extremely spiteful and vindictive individual; after being rejected by his former idol it turned him into a megalomaniacal supervillain. However, he was still intelligent enough not to make his hatred allow him to be arrogant and realized that the Omnidroid would have to be worthy before fighting Bob.

In the comic book adaption by Dark Horse, it's even made clear that he designed the Ominidroid specifically for killing people at random-which shows just how many innocent lives he was willing to risk simply for his own desire of achieving fame.

Despite his evil personality, Syndrome is also shown to have a comedic side, remarking that he and Mrs. Incredible "had gotten busy" after being married, and accidentally tossing Mr. Incredible off a cliff while attempting to explain his plan to him. He also told Kari that wearing a "BS" on shirt was below him while explaining why he had an S on his shirt.

However, it is quite needless to say that Syndrome was not always like this; Buddy Pine was inventive and intelligent, otherwise a little pestering and obnoxious. He was somewhat obsessed with Mister Incredible as he was a member of the fan club, knows his favorite catchphrases and fighting styles and his self-proclaimed number one fan. He is a child prodigy, creating rocket boots which allow him to fly; sadly, however, his intrusions caused his idol to lose Bomb Voyage. After being rejected by Mister Incredible twice this led Buddy down a dark path until it became a desire for vengeance. However, even as a child, Syndrome believed being a superhero was about wearing cool outfits and getting to beat people up, showing no real desire to help others. This suggests that he could have potentially become an anti-hero even if Bob hadn't turned him down. To be fair, he was a child at the time, so he may not have understood what being a superhero really meant.

Appearance

Syndrome stood 5 feet and 7 inches tall, excluding the height of his hair. He was barrel-chested and weighed 185 lb. His red hair extended straight up in a manner reminiscent of flames. Syndrome was supposedly "not a super", but he demonstrated exceptional ingenuity, technical knowledge, and planning skill far beyond the science of his time.

Weapons and Inventions

Syndrome's list of super weapons that he made was extensive, but several notable ones included:

Rocket boots

Zero-point energy ray (trapped and paralyzed the victim{s} in an energy beam)

Impressive. We must have him back. Sound the all clear and... invite him to dinner.

„

~ Syndrome after witnessing Mr. Incredible beat the Omnidroid 08.

“

It's finally ready! You know, I went through quite a few supers to make it worthy to fight you, but man, it wasn't good enough! After you trashed the last one, I had to make some major modifications! Sure, it was difficult, but you are worth it! (laughs) I mean, after all... I am your biggest fan. (Mr. Incredible: Buddy?) My name is not BUDDY!! And it's not "Incrediboy" either! That ship has sailed! All I wanted was to help you, I only wanted to help! And what did you say to me? (Flashback of Mr. Incredible: Fly home, Buddy. I work alone.) It tore me apart, but I finally learned an important lesson: you can't count on anyone, especially your heroes!

YOU sir, truly ARE Mr. Incredible. You know, I was right to idolize you, and I always knew you were tough, but tricking the probe by hiding under the bones of another super, aw man! I'm still geeking out about it! And then you just had to go and.. ruin the ride. I mean Mr. Incredible calling for help? "Help me, Help me!!" - lame lame lame lame LAME! Alright, who did you contact?!

„

~ Syndrome after he kidnaps Mr. Incredible.

“

Too late! Fifteen years too late!

„

~ Syndrome after Mr. Incredible begs him to call off the missiles.

“

Huh, huh? Oh, come on! You've got to admit this is cool, just like a movie! The robot will emerge dramatically, do some damage, throw in some screaming people! And just when all hope is lost... Syndrome will save the day! I'll be a bigger hero than you ever were. (Mr. Incredible: You mean you killed off real heroes so that you could PRETEND TO BE ONE?!) Oh, I'm real, real enough to defeat YOU!! And I did it without your precious 'gifts', your 'oh-so-special' powers!

„

~ Syndrome explain about his plan for the Omnidroid to the Incredibles.

“

Shhhhhh.... the baby's sleeping. (chuckles evilly) You took away my future. I'm simply returning the favor. Oh, don't worry, I'll be a good mentor: supportive and encouraging, everything that you WEREN'T! And in time, who knows? He might make a good sidekick. HA HA!!

„

~ Syndrome attempting to kidnap Jack-Jack in revenge for his loss.

“

This isn't the end of it! I will get your son eventually! I'll get your son! (laughs evilly, but gasps after seeing Mr. Incredible hurling his car into the jet) Oh, no.....

„

~ Syndrome's last words, before being sucked into the jet turbine and shredded to death.

Trivia

Joaquin Phoenix (who also portrayed Commodus) was originally announced to voice Syndrome.

In The Incredibles: The Video Game, the young Buddy was seen as IncrediBoy when a youthful Mr. Incredible was holding onto his cape, trying to remove the bomb from Buddy's cape. But for the rest of the game, Buddy was never seen again as a 23-year-old under the supervillain name Syndrome. It is unknown why he never came back after the incident of the bomb being on his cape when he was little.

He is also the second main antagonist Pixar villain to die after Hopper and before Charles Muntz.

Syndrome was originally planned to be a minor villain before being promoted to the main antagonist.